Republican House Majority Leader Steve Scalise (R-LA) took questions during a press conference on Capitol Hill on Tuesday and offered conflicting messages on the GOP conference taking action against fabulist Rep. George Santos (R-NY).
“Given all that we know now about what Congressman Santos lied about his resumé… Do you think that he should be a member of Congess?” asked a reporter.
“Well you saw him seated last week, there were no challenges to that,” Scalise replied, suggesting that members from both parties accepted Santos’s swearing-in.
“This is something that’s being handled internally. Obviously, there were concerns about what we had heard. And so we’re going to have to sit down and talk to him about it. And that’s something that we’re going to deal with, just like there’s a lot of other things we’re going to deal with,” Scalise concluded.
Santos, who won election in a heavily Biden-leaning district in 2020, is accused of lying about everything from his heritage to his employment history to even how his own mother died.
On Tuesday, Democratic Reps. Ritchie Torres (D-NY) and Daniel Goldman (D-NY) filed an official ethics complaint to the House Committee on Ethics to investigate Santos over his made-up biography and campaign finance disclosures.
“The congressmen requested that the House committee explore whether Mr. Santos, a first-year lawmaker representing parts of Long Island and Queens, broke the law when he filed his required financial disclosures late and without key details about his finances,” reported the New York Times on the complaint.
“Congressman Torres and I feel it’s incredibly important to make sure that the integrity of the House and the integrity of its members are put front, first and foremost,” Goldman told the Times.
On Tuesday, Rep. Pete Aguilar (D-CA) tore into GOP House leadership during the Democrat’s presser on the Hill.
“Kevin McCarthy owns George Santos, lock, stock and barrel,” Aguilar said, adding:
If George Santos wasn’t seated, what would the math have been for Speaker McCarthy? He would have had to flip another vote or get two people to vote present. I mean, this is he he he owns George Santos. That’s the only reason why he was seated, is to give George Santos that ability to vote for Kevin McCarthy. So let’s let’s let’s call this exactly what it is. There should be repercussions. The state and federal governments and the law enforcement agencies should look into it. The FEC should look into this. I know that there might be an ethics complaint that’s filed here as well.
“But this is an incredibly serious issue from someone who clearly is divorced from reality and sanity. But this is at the feet of Kevin McCarthy, not just George Santos alone,” he concluded.
Watch the full clips above via C-SPAN
Have a tip we should know? tips@mediaite.com
For more latest Politics News Click Here